Iraqis Mourn Destruction of Ancient City of Nimrud: ISIS ‘Tried to Destroy the Identity of Iraq’

“When ISIS swept into Mosul two years ago, Leila Salih begged the militants not to destroy the Mosul Museum, where she worked, or the archaeological site at Nimrud, which she helped oversee, just south of the city.

“I told them we would destroy the graves ourselves if they just left the buildings standing,” she told NBC News. “I begged them to save Iraq’s history.”

But the pleas fell on deaf ears. Several videos released by the militants last year show ISIS fighters using sledgehammers, power tools, and bulldozers to demolish priceless sculptures and stone carvings. What they didn’t destroy with explosives they tore down by hand.

Built three thousand years ago — and forgotten for centuries — the ancient city of Nimrud was the second capital of the Assyrian empire, which at its height extended to modern-day Egypt, Turkey and Iran.”